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Mikko Koivu had just one goal and four points in 10 playoff games in 2015.

Minnesota's playoff run ended on Thursday as Chicago completed its second round sweep. Koivu had a somewhat rough season overall as he was limited to 14 goals and 48 points in 80 contests. What makes it more frustrating is that injuries didn't cost him much playing time in 2014-15, which often hasn't been the case for him in recent years. Minnesota will have to hope that it gets more out of its captain in 2015-16. May 8 - 10:41 AM

Koivu has a goal, four points, and a minus-three rating in eight postseason contests. He was held off the scoresheet in the Wild's 4-1 loss to Chicago on Sunday. With Minnesota now down 2-0 in the series, the team captain feels Minnesota needs to play better defensively and if it does that will lead to offensive production as well. May 5 - 10:35 AM

Mikko Koivu scored his first goal of the playoffs off a lucky deflection on Friday night, helping to achieve Minnesota's 4-1 Game Five victory over St. Louis.

As Koivu and teammate Zach Parise cycled in the left offensive corner, winger Chris Stewart made himself available on the far-side. Koivu then walked out from the corner and tried to feed Stewart, but instead caught Jay Bouwmeester's skate and the back of the net. The goal came on the power play, and gave the Wild a 3-1 lead just 1:26 after Nino Niederreiter had achieved the lead. Apr 25 - 1:16 AM

The Minnesota Wild are only fighting for seeding, so it makes sense to rest many players against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday.

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Mikko Koivu had just one goal and four points in 10 playoff games in 2015.

Minnesota's playoff run ended on Thursday as Chicago completed its second round sweep. Koivu had a somewhat rough season overall as he was limited to 14 goals and 48 points in 80 contests. What makes it more frustrating is that injuries didn't cost him much playing time in 2014-15, which often hasn't been the case for him in recent years. Minnesota will have to hope that it gets more out of its captain in 2015-16.

Charlie Coyle registered a goal and an assist in a 3-1 win for the United States over Switzerland on Thursday.

The victory put Team USA into the semifinals of the World Hockey Championships, where they will play against Russia. Coyle has three points in three games for the U.S. at the tournament. Ben Smith and Jake Gardiner had the other goals in the contest.

Given that the 2015-16 Minnesota Wild will be very similar to last season's edition, Zach Parise feels that the onus is on the players to improve upon their showing last season.

"We need guys to get better; we need guys to play better," Parise said. "It sounds like that's (the front office's) approach as well. Just internally, we need to get better. If there was a way they could improve the team, I'm sure they will and would, but as a group, we just have to take it upon ourselves to play better next season." Parise had 33 goals and 62 points in 74 contests in 2014-15. That's pretty much in line with what he has done in previous seasons with Minnesota, but there's a bit of room for improvement given his skill level.

The Minnesota Wild have signed Erik Haula to a new two-year contract worth $2 million.

The two sides had an arbitration hearing on Friday, but they were able to come to terms on an extension before the arbitrator's ruling was announced. Haula had seven goals and 14 points in 72 games last season.

Jason Zucker played through a broken thumb for Minnesota's last few playoff games.

He admitted it was difficult to stick handle and he kept having it numbed so he could play. Zucker generated two goals and one assist in 10 postseason games after he posted 21 goals and 26 points in 51 games during the regular season.

Jason Pominville scored his third and final goal of the postseason when he redirected a Marco Scandella power play slapper through Corey Crawford on Thursday night.

Pominville's tally made it 4-2 Chicago with 2:18 to go, but Minnesota would only manage one more goal before the final buzzer. For his part, Pominville finished second on the team in goals (three) and points (six, with Mikael Granlund) over 10 games. For his career, Pominville has 16 goals and 42 points in 69 career playoff games.

Thomas Vanek had surgery in Philadelphia last week for a sports hernia.

"It bothered him for a lot of the second half," GM Chuck Fletcher said. "We gave it some rest, but it didn't seem to be getting better, so we opted for the surgical route. We expect him to be 100 percent by training camp." The typical recovery timetable for his injury is about six weeks. Vanek recorded no goals and four assists in 10 playoff games after he had 21 goals and 52 points in 80 matches during the regular season.

Nino Niederreiter put home his fourth goal of the postseason, cutting the Wild's deficit to 4-3 with 87 seconds to go. Unfortunately, they'd still fall to the Blackhawks.

Niederreiter had an excellent postseason in 2015, tying for the team lead in goals with Zach Parise with four. Which also set a new career high in goals during a single postseason for him. Niederreiter now has seven goals and 11 points in 22 playoff games spread over two postseasons.

Ryan Suter had an assist in Minnesota's 4-1 loss to Chicago Sunday night.

Suter also had a minus-three rating in the losing effort. That reduced him to a minus-four rating in the second round series against the Blackhawks. "They have some good players and you make mistakes, and most of the time it ends up in the back of the net," Suter said of Chicago. "They have that killer instinct. Their top players know how to score." The Blackhawks have a 2-0 series lead.

Jonas Brodin scored a goal and an assist in Saturday's 6-3 win over the St. Louis Blues.

Brodin's goal at the 4:05 mark of the second period extended the Wild's lead to 4-0 and that goal proved to be the game-winner. Brodin also picked up the primary assist on Zach Parise's 28th goal of the season. The 21-year-old has three goals and 16 points in 61 games this season. He finished the game with a plus-3 rating, three shots on goal, one hit and three blocked shots.

Jared Spurgeon scored the lone goal in the Wild's 6-1 loss to St. Louis on Wednesday.

Spurgeon was a minus-2 on the night but did manage the goal on the power-play. The only Wild player not a minus player on the night was Nino Niederreiter who drew an assist on the goal. The Wild players will like to forget this game ever happened as they were booed off the ice at every intermission.

Marc Scandella scored his second goal of the playoffs when he sent a laser too hot for Jake Allen's glove to handle on Friday night.

The goal, which went in after Allen failed to properly catch Scandella's shot, came 3:02 after Vladimir Tarasenko had opened the scoring. Over 20:33 of work, which included 2:26 on the kill, including another shot and three blocks. Scandella now has five goals and seven points through 23 career playoff games.

The Wild were trailing 2-0 when Dumba scored a power play goal to cut the Chicago lead to one in the third period. Unfortunately for Minnesota, that's as close as they would get. Ryan Suter and goaltender Devan Dubnyk picked up the assists on Dumba's goal. The Wild now trail 2-0 in the series, but they won't be in real danger until they lose a game on home ice.

Christian Folin re-signed with the Wild on a two-year, $1.45 million contract.

Folin, who got a one-way contract, gives the Wild eight defenseman. The 24-year-old restricted free agent was signed as a college free agent after the 2013-14 season at UMass-Lowell. The Swedish blueliner had 10 points in 40 NHL games last year, plus four points in 13 games in the AHL.

Mike Reilly has signed a two-year/entry level contract with the Minnesota Wild.

Reilly became an unrestricted free agent when he left college and did not sign with the Columbus Blue Jackets, the team that drafted him in the 2011 Draft in the fourth round. The deal is believed to be worth a tad less than $2 million per year.

The Minnesota Wild have officially announced the signing of Devan Dubnyk to a six-year/$26 million contract.

Dubnyk was sensational for the Wild after being traded from the Coyotes on January 14 as he went 27-9-2 with a 1.78 GAA and a .936 save percentage. He went from a backup goalie in Arizona to being a finalist for the Vezina Trophy. "The most exciting thing for me is knowing I get to be part of a really good hockey team for a long time," Dubnyk told the Star Tribune on June 27. "Getting a chance to play with that group of guys last year was the best experience for me. I'm real excited."

The Wild still have big expectations for Darcy Kuemper, despite
signing Devan Dubnyk to an extension this summer.

Dubnyk essentially has become the team's No. 1 netminder for the next
six years after signing a deal worth $26 million. "Well we’re still
very excited about Darcy Kuemper," general manager Chuck Fletcher said.
"He’s a young man, and two seasons ago he had a tremendous year. Last
year he was certainly more erratic. He started well and had a tough
stretch in the middle of the year. ... "But he’s just turning 25, he’s
got great size and athleticism, and we feel he’s a guy that can win
games in this league. He has won games in this league. He won a
playoff series against Colorado where he was the No. 1 goalie."
Kuemper posted a 2.60 goals-against average and .905 save percentage
last year, but was considerably better the year before. Fletcher says
the team is comfortable with Kuemper as the No. 2 moving forward.

Niklas Backstrom went into the severity of the elbow injury he's been dealing with.

Backstrom had nerve damage to the point where he couldn't move some of his fingers. It meant that he couldn't so much as hold a phone with his right hand. He had surgery for his injury in May. Minnesota was expected to buy out Backstrom this summer, but the Wild can't due to his injury. Backstrom isn't expected to be cleared to play until training camp at the earliest, which means that he might end up on the long-term injured reserve list instead.